Tag: route 19

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News

Broken Greenway Trail Runs Through Houghton

The Genesee Valley Greenway trail, which runs between Rochester and Hinesdale, south of Cuba, is closed in the section that goes through Houghton. Though students and community members run, walk, and bike on the Houghton section of the Greenway daily the interruptions prevent them from connecting to the rest of the trail.

The Greenway is a park originating from the land formerly occupied by area canals and railroads. Described as “an open space corridor” by the New York State Park Service, it is intended to be used for walking, hiking, and biking, and other outdoor recreation. It also has a crucial role in conservation, allowing organisms to travel on an uninterrupted wild space throughout Western New York.

Kristina Shoepfer, park manager for the Greenway, said that the land passed through several hands before becoming a state park. “The Genesee Valley Greenway follows the old Genesee Valley Canal and later, the Rochester Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The railroad eventually sold the property to RG&E [Rochester Gas and Electric], who later sold the property to New York State for use as a recreational trail.” Because of the long history of the property, the Greenway runs past pieces of regional history, including ruins of stone locks, culverts, and historic inns such as the Yard of Ale and the National Hotel. One section near Black Creek, NY runs past areas of the canal which are still full of water, allowing trail users to imagine the canal in its heyday.

GreenwayTrailCMYKThe Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway (FOGVG), a local nonprofit organization, in partnership with the state park system, attempts to promote and care for the Greenway to users of the trail. The Friends have brought more than $4 million in grants to the Greenway to develop it further, and often run events to promote and care for the trail. They also provide information about the length of the trail for potential users.

According to FOGVG there are several areas of the trail that are currently closed for use. One of the areas that is currently closed, according to the trail guide found on the FOGVG website, includes the section that goes through Houghton. Shoepfer pointed out that the trail nearest Houghton has a few obstacles that prevent it from connecting it to the rest of the trail. North of Houghton, “a bridge is needed to cross the creek adjacent to the Houghton soccer fields” while to the south, “there is a RG&E substation located on what used to be the old rail bed (and what would have been the path of the Greenway),” she said. Beyond these interruptions, the trail is maintained as it continues north to Rochester and south past Cuba.

“Having the Greenway connected in Houghton would be an asset to the college and community” for several reasons, Shoepfer said, as it would provide increased recreational opportunities over the length of the trail for activities including hiking, biking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and horseback-riding. Shoepfer also suggested that for students who currently run along Route 19, having the Greenway connected would allow for a safer alternative to running along the road.

The RVER Group, or Regional Ventures in Economic Revitalization, stated that one of its goals for the near future is to refurbish the park in the town of Houghton. Helping to connect the section of the Genesee Valley Greenway that runs through Houghton to the rest of the path would be a related goal worth pursuing.

The Greenway is a feature of Houghton that deserves to be more well-known and utilized. With a few improvements, the Genesee Valley Greenway could “stimulate business and tourism for the local community and benefit the community as a whole,” Shoepfer said.

For more information, including trail maps and updates on events, visit the Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway website at fogvg.org, or the New York State Park website at nysparks.com

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Stories In Focus

RVER Group Reimagines Houghton

Students want more to do in Houghton. Each class that has passed through these grounds has made the same complaint, year after year: “There’s nowhere to go, nothing to do.” The RVER Group knows this. They are working to change it.

Courtesy of Keystone Associates, Architects, Engineers and Surveyors, LLC, Binghamton, NYRVER, pronounced “river”, stands for Regional Ventures in Economic Revitalization. This board of community members started off as the Houghton Group, but soon expanded out of the college and into the whole of the town. Said Phyllis Gaerte, Chair of the Houghton Group, “Our concerted effort to include our local, county, and state elected officials in our discussions has been instrumental in us getting before the right people that can offer support and help us move forward.  We have developed a great working relationship with our county development and planning team. In the past few months, we have had the opportunity to meet with our Congressman, Tom Reed, and Senator, Catherine Young, as well as our county legislators.”

The idea for a group that would facilitate economic growth in Houghton was spurred on by the construction of the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex (KPAC). The building is the largest of its kind in the Southern Tier. With a capacity of 6,000, it presents opportunities to host live artists, trade shows, and athletic events that Houghton never previously had the means to hold.

These opportunities create traffic. Where there is traffic, there needs to be businesses ready to feed, clothe, and entertain the people coming into town. This is where the RVER Group sees potential for commercial growth in Houghton. “The work of the RVER Group has the potential to transform both the look of Main Street in Houghton and at the same time increase access to retail services, products, and other conveniences in Houghton. Students, parents, children, and local residents all stand to benefit from our efforts,” said Professor Ken Bates. Bates is one member of the RVER Group who is also a part of the Houghton College faculty.

Having only been established a year ago, the Group has already made some progress in town. They brought Tracy’s Delights on board from Tracy’s original location in Rushford. They also supported her and her husband, John, to add a full floral service to their store. They met with Addie’s Ice Cream, when Addie came to them, interested in adding a location in Houghton. The Group helped them in locating a space, providing work teams to help with renovations, and advertising in Houghton. This past Summer, the Group also worked to bring the Genesee Rapids to town. Although students weren’t here to see the Rapids, the Group had a great success in drawing crowds and advertising through their presence.

While the RVER Group does have some long-term goals in mind, they are working to accomplish four in the short-term. Said Bates, “The four top priorities of the RVER Group today are funding and then building the new town park; designing, funding, and constructing a new streetscape look to Main Street; building a convenience store/gas station in town; and locating a national chain fast food store in Houghton”

The Group plans to build a town park behind the firehall parking lot. The park would be adjacent to the field of dreams and have access to the Genesee River. The plans came about from Caneadea’s desire to build a park in their town, but not having the land to facilitate it. Houghton has agreed to give a plot of land to the town if they get a grant from the state government to build it. The Group hopes to see the park become a year-round attraction. Connecting with the Genesee Valley Greenway Trail that stretches from Rochester to just south of Mt. Morris, the park shows potential for hiking, skiing, and snowshoe trails.

A key part of the revitalization of Houghton is making the area along Route 19 more attractive and easily accessible as a place to spend time. This involves improving several aspects of the streetscape. Plans have been drawn up by Keystone Associates that would replace current lighting with more and better lamp posts that use LED light bulbs, expand the sidewalk through the whole commercial area, install bike racks and flower plantings, and add stamped-concrete crosswalks. The crosswalks are being installed in hopes to encourage motorists to slow down and make the town safer to walk through. The Group has also looked into adorning the street with seasonal decorations to make the town more inviting.

The biggest public project the RVER Group is working on is bringing a gas station and convenience store into town. This is a very important part of the group’s overall plan to improve commerce. As people come into Houghton for big events, having a local gas station will be vital to facilitating traffic. While the gas station will be useful for students, the convenience store provides an opportunity to buy snacks and necessities at all times of the day unlike the Campus Store, and without the trip to Fillmore Dollar General.

There are two central obstacles to establishing a gas station in town. The first is that because of our close proximity to the Genesee River, there is a lot of regulation by the state on underground gas tanks. The second is finding a gas company whose convenience store is willing to forfeit its liquor license as is the will of the College. The Group has ideas on how to overcome both of these in time.

The fourth major project of the RVER Group is currently under lock and key. They are looking to bring a national fast food chain into the town, but are not currently saying with which franchise they are talking.

The future looks bright for the RVER Group’s work in Houghton. They have been impressed with the community’s willingness to lend a hand in all their endeavors. “I am encouraged by the growth we have seen in just over a year and want to thank our team of volunteers who are committed to seeing the momentum continue,” said Gaerte. Their investment of time and work has already begun to improve the community. That’s their one true goal: improve the community and everyone prospers – financially, as well as communally.

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Stories In Focus

Tracy’s Delightfuls Moves to Houghton

Less than a fifteen minute walk from anywhere on campus to Route 19, students may encounter Tracy’s Delightfuls. This family run gift shop arrived in the town of Houghton this past December. The store was originally located in Rushford, where owner Tracy Schieb and her husband, John Schieb, opened the business in June of 2012, fulfilling a lifelong dream to own a gift shop. The move to Houghton brought them a much appreciated quiet atmosphere and a larger venue. John Schieb wryly described the Rushford location as, “smaller than the room we’re standing in.” The larger venue has given them a chance to expand their merchandise, including the addition of fresh cut flowers.

LukeLauer_TracysDelightfulsThe front lawn is dotted with floral arrangements, including the sign. Inside the store, cream-colored walls are covered with bright, vibrant scarves, fingerless gloves, and an assortment of candles, mugs, and trinkets cover display tables. A pleasant scent drifts through the room, specifically the grape scent of a Northern Lights Candle.

The couple’s dedication and love for what they do becomes immediately clear upon inspection of the store. John Schieb’s woodwork can be found throughout the store, including birdhouses and antique windows transformed into decorative pieces. For their own use they have a organizational bulletin board behind the cash register. The work of Tracy’s mother is present as well, including the scarves, fingerless gloves, cowls, and quilts. John Schieb mentioned, with a grin, “about ninety-percent” of their lives revolve around the store. First year, Carina Martin, noted that Tracy, “genuinely cares about her customers.”

Family is not the only unique resource of Tracy’s Delightfuls. A shelf displays ceramic work by Naomi Woolsey and Kat Straus for sale, as well as Melissa Fink’s bracelets. Amish made bracelets and bells are displayed in the front. As a general philosophy, Tracy Schieb noted they try to support locally made products. Their new cookie cutters, for example, are made in Vermont, the Northern Lights candles are New York based, and Seacoast Florist of New Hampshire supplies their fresh cut flowers.

Tracy’s Delightfuls offers several benefits for Houghton students. There is a fifteen percent off discount for students who present their IDs. “I remember what it was like to be a college student,” Tracy Schieb said with a smile, “and that every penny counts!” Tracy’s Delightfuls also allows parents to order and ship to the college. Nationwide shipping allows students to do the same for their parents or siblings, a benefit especially fitting for the upcoming holiday season.

In the near future, Tracy’s Delightfuls will open its doors for the Harvest Festival, with a focus on autumn. The fall scents of the Northern Lights candles and the new Vermont made cookie cutters will be displayed. Tracy Schieb noted that pumpkins will hopefully have arrived as well.

Tracy’s Delightfuls offers a wide range of gifts for any season, with quirky mugs (“Fishing- if it was easy it would be called catching”), accessories and candles, and animal themed cowls. There is also a large selection of current seasonal items. “I seriously love these pumpkins!” Martin laughingly commented in reference to a set of painted wooden pumpkins. The careful detail and local involvement is reflected in the wide range of “delightful” gifts.

Tracy’s Delightfuls is located on 9726 Route 19, across from China Star. They are open weekdays from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Debit cards, MasterCard, Personal Checks, and Visa are accepted.

 

https://www.facebook.com/TracysDelightfulsGiftBasketsts/timeline?ref=page_internal

http://www.superpages.com/bp/Houghton-NY/Tracys-Delightfuls-Gift-Baskets-L2366593499.htm

 

Categories
Arts

Things to Do: Wiscoy Falls

Wiscoy Falls is one of those places that should be on every Houghton student’s bucket list. Set back a mile or so from the well-frequented Route 19, this chain of three waterfalls is a gorgeous sight to see and explore. To get there, simply drive 10 minutes north of Houghton on Route 19, and take a left at the sign denoting Wiscoy. As you follow its direction, you will come to a Y in the road, at which you should continue to the right. Very soon, you will reach the bridge that overlooks the first of the falls. Most Houghton students that expedition here will make use of the small dirt parking space next to the condemned mill building just past the bridge, and then proceed along the path that extends from there.

Courtesy of Maribeth Olson
Courtesy of Maribeth Olson

Visitors should follow this pathway through the woods, and then there is a hike across a firm dirt trail along the river. After dodging briars and climbing the dry sides of the waterfall’s shale, visitors can splash through the shallows on their way upstream. As they chase the river toward its source, visitors will encounter three waterfalls before finally being faced with the dam that spills the water down toward the Genesee. All three of these waterfalls are accessible to the adventurous expeditionary, and they all hold secrets of their own for the discovery.

As visitors approach the second waterfall from downstream, they will find the riverbed to be hazardously pot-marked with greater or lesser depressions in the rock. The deepest of these begins a short way from the strongest portion of that particular fall and extends right up to the crashing of the water. However, there is a ledge that can be traced from the right side of the falls (facing upstream) that will lead visitors along the edge of the falls. Visitors will be led to a point where their faces are stung by the spray of the water and they have no more ledge to trace, and it is at that point that visitors may let themselves fall into the powerful curtain of water and startlingly find themselves safe in an open cavern beneath that very curtain. This moderately sized cavern is my personal favorite place to explore when I travel to the falls when the water is warm.

Since it is only early spring, I would not recommend swimming at Wiscoy just yet. But you may still enjoy the picturesque scenery and take the opportunity breathe the clear air of a white-water Spring.